Chapter 66 Gift
The production of the Obsidian record player was on track, and Yasuda and Yamashita Daiji also had time to focus all their energy on imitating the Sony Walkman.
At this moment, in an independent workshop of the technical department, Shirakawa Kaede, Yasuda and others were sitting together.
In front of them, the blue walkman had turned into a pile of parts.
If you want to copy it, there is no special method, naturally it is still reverse engineering.
This is the skill that made RB rich. In the 1950s and 1960s, their reverse engineering targets were all European and American products.
Toshiba, Hitachi, and Panasonic, sometimes they don’t even change the patterns when they copy products.
So now Shirakawa Kaede is reverse engineering Sony's stuff, and he feels very at ease.
Excellent traditions must continue to be carried forward.
Walkman, which is what we usually call a portable player, actually has a simple structure.
It is roughly divided into several modules: movement, circuit board, and box cover. The core parts are mainly the first two.
The movement mainly includes the magnetic head, gears, motor and button module, which are considered the driving mechanism of the walkman.
As for the circuit board, it is relatively simple. The functions of power amplifier, automatic control, amplification, equalization, etc. are also relatively simple.
Yasuda took these parts and fiddled with them carefully, sometimes frowning slightly, sometimes his eyes lit up.
"How is it? Is it difficult to imitate it, Mr. Yasuda?" Baichuan Feng could only take a rough look, and it would take professionals to really check it.
Yasuda Masaaki put down the magnetic head in his hand, pondered for a while, and then said, "The design is very sophisticated, and theoretically it is not difficult to copy.
Especially the movement part, we at Baichuan Electric can handle it by ourselves. But the circuit part is a bit troublesome..."
The mechanical part has always been Yasuda's specialty, and now there is also Yamashita Daiji. It may be difficult to design out of thin air, but with references, Yasuda is confident that he can come up with a preliminary design plan within two weeks.
But as mentioned before, the electronics part has always been the weak point of Shirakawa Electric.
Although some circuits are used in vinyl record players, they are not the main factor affecting the sound quality of the record player. Therefore, Watanabe Electric did not pay much attention to it in the past.
Today's Walkman not only has sophisticated component design, but circuit integration is also a very important part.
Stereo circuits, audio chips, etc., all involve the design of circuit solutions, which cannot be copied 100% by simply piecing together.
Yasuda's circuit repair and fine-tuning skills are OK, but his design skills are far from perfect. He knows his own limitations and will not make rash promises.
Before the imitation process even started, we encountered difficulties. As expected, most of the time things don’t go as smoothly as imagined.
"Mr. Yasuda just needs to focus on getting the replica design of the movement done. As for the circuit solution, I'll figure it out."
Baichuan Feng will not stop because of a small problem. If he can't overcome this hurdle, how can he grow Baichuan Electric?
"Yeah." Masaaki Yasuda and Daiji Yamashita nodded. All they could do was to do their best to do the part they were responsible for.
As for the circuit part, I can only trust Shirakawa Feng.
"By the way, be careful to avoid patents when designing. We don't need to be exactly the same as Sony, as long as the functionality is achieved. The simpler the structure, the better. Our positioning is still mid-to-low-end."
On this point, Baichuan Feng thought very clearly. Competing with an original giant like Sony in the high-end market is like going to the toilet with a lantern - looking for shit.
He was not so stubborn, and Baichuan Electric was still very weak and could not withstand the wind and rain. Moreover, the simpler the structure, the lower the cost.
As for the sound quality effects, let’s put them aside for now.
After finishing the work on the Walkman, Baichuan Feng started to think about the circuit module.
Unfortunately, he is not good at these things. He would like to poach people with high salaries, but it is impossible in the current social environment.
90% of joint-stock companies adopt a lifetime employment system, and job-hopping is tantamount to betrayal for employees.
Not only will the company make things difficult for you, but even your colleagues will look down on you.
The culture is like this and there is nothing he can do about it.
Look at those artists in the entertainment industry who changed their nationality, as long as the contract has not expired. If you leave without permission, the whole industry will condemn you, and few agencies will dare to take you in.
If things go wrong, the Music Industry Association might boycott you, and then your career as an artist will be basically over.
There is no clue about the electronic talents for the time being, Baichuan Feng can only take it one step at a time.
Feeling a little annoyed, he took out rubbed it for a few times, and hesitated.
Forget it, let’s go out and get some fresh air.
After finding an excuse for himself, Baichuan Feng picked up the phone on the desk and dialed a familiar number.
"Moshimoshi?"
"It's me, Shirakawa... Hey, you didn't go to the filming? Why?... Wait for me, I'll be there now."
After hanging up the phone, Baichuan Feng hurriedly got up and prepared to leave.
After thinking for a while, he turned to Asuka Kobayashi who was sitting opposite him and said, "Assistant Kobayashi, please prepare a packaged obsidian record player for me. I will take it away later. Thank you."
Asuka Kobayashi looked at Shirakawa Kaede's hurried expression and curled her lips helplessly. This guy really knows how to order people around.
…
Shibuya, Yoyogi Uehara.
Baichuan Feng, holding a cardboard box, came to the door of a single-family building with a grunt.
He put down what he was holding and rang the doorbell. After a while, a clear answer came, and then Tanaka Yuko, with her hair loose and in casual clothes, opened the door.
"How are you, Senior Tanaka? Are you okay?" The first sentence he said when they met was to show concern for her situation.
While speaking, Shirakawa Kaede also looked at her left foot. Tanaka Yuko, who was wearing slippers, tapped the ground with her left foot, and her ankle looked a little red and swollen.
Tanaka Yuko shrank her foot a little embarrassedly, "I just twisted it accidentally, I'll be fine after resting for two days."
"Why are you so careless?" After changing into slippers, Baichuan Feng naturally held her arm and carefully carried her to the sofa.
The latter's eyes moved a few times in a slightly flustered manner, but in the end he did not refuse.
After settling her down, Baichuan Feng went back to the door, picked up the cardboard box on the ground, went into the house and closed the door.
Yuko Tanaka had just finished filming her scenes in Fukuoka, and she had just had a small gathering with her colleagues from the crew last night. When she got home, she accidentally sprained her ankle.
So the filming of the play could not be completed for the time being and I could only rest at home for two days.
If Baichuan Feng hadn't called her on a whim, she wouldn't have known about this.
It was a good opportunity to come out and get some fresh air and visit her at the same time.
When Tanaka Yuko saw Shirakawa Feng carrying a cardboard box in, she looked at it curiously and asked, "Hey, what is this?"
"As I mentioned before, Senior Tanaka, it's naturally a gift." Baichuan Feng laughed proudly twice.
But when he saw Tanaka Yuko's raised left foot, he put away his expression and asked, "Didn't you apply ice to it, Senior?"
Tanaka Yuko smoothed her long hair by her ears and said a little embarrassedly, "I thought it was nothing, but it got worse after sleeping."
"Senior, it is common sense to deal with it promptly after it is twisted."
Seeing that Tanaka Yuko was still curiously looking at the cardboard box, Shirakawa Feng waved his hand, "Let's talk about the gift later. Let's take care of the senior's sprain first."
After saying this, Shirakawa Kaede stood up and walked towards the refrigerator in the kitchen. Although this was his first time visiting Tanaka Yuko's residence, the basic layout of the single-family houses in RB was similar.
